Misión Permanente de la República
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Naciones Unidas - Nueva YorkNo.

00492
New York, 17 September 2023

H.E. Mr. Dennis Francis
President, General Assembly
United Nations
New York.Distinguished President of the General Assembly,
We have the honor to address you, in our capacity as representatives from thedelegations of Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Eritrea,
the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nicaragua, the Russian Federation, the Syrian Arab
Republic, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe, in relation to the unfortunate situation createdaround the draft political declarations of the SDG Summit, the High-level meeting on
pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, the High-level meeting on universal
health coverage, and the High-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis.
In this regard, it is regrettable that it has not been possible to find a politicalsolution to the current stalemate, created, not only due to the lack of will of somedeveloped countries to engage in true and meaningful negotiations to have balanced andacceptable outcomes for all, but also due to the lack of transparency and poor handlingof your predecessor’s team of all these processes.
As you are aware, the issue of the negative impact of unilateral coercive
measures (UCMs) is an existential one for our peoples. A third of the world’s population
is affected by these illegal measures. There is ample evidence, including from UN
sources, of the heavy toll caused by UCMs on targeted countries’ capacities to achievesustainable development and to make further progress in protecting the right to health oftheir respective populations. Regardless of these facts, we have engaged in thenegotiations of these draft outcomes in good faith, with a spirit of compromise and aconstructive approach, in order to reach consensus.
Since the beginning of these processes, we have insisted on the need to include
our concerns in these important political documents, on the basis of consensuallanguage, as reflected in paragraph 30 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
This request has been echoed by a large number of delegations, including from the Groupof the 77 and China, and from the Group of Friends in Defense of the UN Charter, among
others.

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Excellency,
The legitimate concerns of a large number of developing countries have beenignored. Hence, it is our duty to express our strong concerns on the unacceptable way inwhich this situation unfolded, running in clear contradiction with the spirit of multilateralism
and the overall goal of “leaving no one behind”.
First, there has been no real willingness from a small group of developed
countries to engage in meaningful negotiations to find compromises, forcing unfair
practices which pretend to impose a kind of “veto” on certain issues, and pretending toeven prevent their discussion within the framework of intergovernmental negotiations.
Second, in some cases, negotiations were not conducted in a truly inclusive, fairand balanced way. Our delegations had to witness how, in some cases, even singledelegations were accommodated a great deal in their concerns, while others’ priorities,including ours, were bluntly neglected. For example, the draft outcome of the High-Level
Political Forum on Sustainable Development under the auspices of the General Assembly– SDGs Summit, was reopened with the purpose of exclusively accommodating thepriorities of a few delegations from developed countries, while, in this very same process,and in the three (03) health-related negotiations, nothing was done to reflect andaccommodate the legitimate concerns of delegations from developing countries that, inaddition had broken silence repeatedly, including the Group of 77 and China.
Third, the attempt to ignore formal communications of delegations fromdeveloping countries, including from the Group of 77 and China, on behalf of its 134
Member States, indicating strong reservations and objections.
Fourth, the attempt to force consensus by your predecessor’s team, and now
by your Office, when it is evident that no consensus has been reached on any of theseprocesses; as well as the lack of transparency, inclusiveness and efficient use of thelimited time available then to find compromises.
Excellency,
Our delegations are convinced that this is no way to handle multilateral andintergovernmental negotiations on issues of great relevance for the international
community, particularly for developing countries. Thus, we would like to put on record that
we do not condone, nor accept, this practice, and that it does not set any precedent for
the work of the United Nations and its General Assembly. This is particularly relevant, as
we look forward to future negotiation processes on fundamental matters, in which we willcontinue engaging with great determination, flexibility and constructiveness.
Our delegations would also like to recall the nature and legal standing of themeetings in which the SDGs Summit, the High-Level Meeting on Pandemic Prevention,

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Preparedness and Response, the High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage, andthe High-Level Meeting on the Fight against Tuberculosis, will take place.
In relation to the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable
Development under the auspices of the General Assembly, SDGs Summit, and inaccordance with General Assembly resolution 67/290, in its operative paragraph 9, “allmeetings convened under the auspices of the General Assembly shall operate under therules of procedure of the main committees of the Assembly, as applicable, unlessotherwise provided in the present resolution”. Also, operative paragraph 4 of that verysame resolution clearly states that the Forum “shall result in a concise negotiated politicaldeclaration to be submitted for the consideration of the Assembly”.
Hence, we expect a process to take place at a later stage, where the General
Assembly will formally consider the adoption of the draft Political Declaration, underChapter XII of the Rules of Procedures of the General Assembly.
Similarly, General Assembly resolutions 75/315, 77/274 and 77/275, are clear
in indicating that the political declarations of the three health-related High-Level Meetings
should “be submitted by the President of the General Assembly for adoption by theAssembly”.
In that sense, our delegations oppose any attempt to pretend to formally adopt
any of the draft outcome documents in question, during the meetings scheduled for 18,20, 21 and 22 September 2023, respectively. In addition, we reserve the right to takeappropriate action upon the formal consideration of these four (04) draft outcome
documents in the coming weeks, after the conclusion of the High-Level Segment of the78th Session of the General Assembly, when they must all be considered by the General
Assembly in accordance with its rules of procedures.
In that spirit and in the interest of transparency, we respectfully request hereby
your good offices for circulating as soon as possible this letter as an official document of
the General Assembly, under agenda items 19 and 127, entitled “Sustainabledevelopment” and “Global health and foreign policy”, respectively.
We take this opportunity, Excellency, to reiterate to you the testimony of ourhighest and most distinguished consideration.

C.C.:
H.E. Mr. António Guterres
Secretary-General
United Nations
New York.-

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Bolivariana de Venezuela ante
Naciones Unidas - Nueva YorkH.E. Mr. Valentin Rybakov
Ambassador, Permanent
Representative of the Republic ofBelarus to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Amir Saeid Jalil Iravani
Ambassador, Permanent
Representative of the Islamic Republicof Iran to the United

H.E. Mr. Diego Pary Rodríguez
Ambassador, Permanent
Representative of the Plurinational Stateof Bolivia to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Jaime Hermida Castillo
Ambassador, Permanent
Representative of the Republic ofNicaragua to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Gerardo Peñalver
Ambassador, Permanent
Representative of the Republic of Cuba
to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Vasily A. Nebenzia
Ambassador, Permanent
Representative of the RussianFederation to the United Nations

H.E. Mr. Song Kim
Ambassador, Permanent
Representative of the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea to theUnited Nations

H.E. Mr. Bassam Sabbagh
Ambassador, Permanent
Representative of the Syrian Arab
Republic to the United Nations

H.E. Ms. Sophia TesfamariamAmbassador, Permanent
Representative of the State of Eritrea tothe United Nations

H.E. Mr. Joaquín A. Pérez-Ayestarán
Ambassador, Deputy Permanent
Representative of the Bolivarian
Republic of Venezuela to the United
Nations, Chargé d’affaires, a.i.

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Misión Permanente de la República
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Naciones Unidas - Nueva YorkH.E. Mr. Albert Ranganai Chimbindi
Ambassador, Permanent
Representative of the Republic ofZimbabwe to the United Nations

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